


the world as it once was

by lostinthefire



Category: Cabin Pressure
Genre: Alternate Universe - Angels & Demons, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-04-08
Updated: 2012-04-08
Packaged: 2017-11-03 07:04:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 643
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/378640
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lostinthefire/pseuds/lostinthefire
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Martin remembers the world as it once was, when angels could fly free.</p>
            </blockquote>





	the world as it once was

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the CP prompt meme. The continuation of my addiction to magical AUs for martin is strong.

Martin lives in the attic, he flies planes. Everything he does is because he wants to get higher, to seek the sky, to reach up and spin in the clouds. The ground is too solid for him, the Earth too gritty and hard. He seeks other things, seeks the feel of wind against him, the rush of speed as he shoots through the sky like a falling star.

Martin remembers when times were different, before humanity, when it was just them, just his kind and they were left to soar through the air, to fly and spin and dance amongst the clouds and do whatever they wished. it was a glorious time, it was a treasured moment in the history of the world.

But that’s all it was, a moment.

Humanity came, it changed the world. it shaped it into something where beings like him could only exist in fantasy or in the minds of the delus9ion or feverishly religious. No, beings like him, beings with wings, with the gift of flight and the desire to soar? They don’t exist, not really.

And it took him a while to accept that, to understand that he could not be as fee as he had once been and when the realization hit him, he broke. he shattered and cried and threw himself against the walls of his little home. He didn’t believe it, didn’t want to accept that the world had changed.

But it had and he was forced to change with it.

Caitlin, who was not named Caitlin at the time, held him as he cried, stroked his hair and told him it would be all right, that they could still go flying. Simon, who was not named Simon, tsked at Martin’s explosion of emotion but understood and curled around his siblings, his wings wrapping around all of them.

He always had the biggest wings out of all of them, it was always nice to curl up against him and let his feathers brush cheeks or arms. The feel of feathers, be it Martin’s own or the ones of his siblings, was always a comfort.

Eventually, he learned how to adapt, how to accept the world as it is now. it’s hard, as humans have the ability to change so quickly, to grow and shift and make the world around them change with them. It’s hard for someone like him, hard for a creature as old as he is to keep up with the changes but he tries. not as well as he could, he admits but he does make the effort.

He buries himself in flight, in learning everything he can about human aviation. he studies planes, he studies advances in human flight, he studies space travel, he keeps an eye on everything he can. It keeps him sane, soothes his mind when he’s stressed and his wings ache with the need to stretch and soar.

But the ache can get overwhelming sometimes, can get dizzying to the point where he cant’ concentrate. It makes his head spin and his back ache and his body sensitive to any sort of touch. He only wants to let his wings out, to fly fo9r just for a few minutes.

Those are the times when he phones Caitlin, pulls her away from the ghosts she works with, and begs her to take him 9out, to find him a place where no one can see them.

And she does.

He calls it ‘camping’. He says that they go to Wales for family bonding but really, it’s the three of them, Simon, Caitlin and him, racing through the sky, dancing in the air and chasing one another as if they were3 young again. They play in the air, laughing and spinning and shooting through clouds. They stretch their wings and remember what the world used to be like.

**Author's Note:**

> Find me elsewhere:  
> [My DW](http://rootsofthestories.dreamwidth.org) (which I use regularly)  
> [My Tumblr](http://analtarofstars.tumblr.com/) (which I am very rarely on)  
> [My Twitter](http://twitter.com/harvestgraces) (which I am on at random)


End file.
